In the midst of the political upheaval resulting from the 2010 Congressional election, one aspect that may be overlooked is the extremely unrepresentative nature of the new Senate. Although African-Americans account for 12.9% of the U.S. population, there will be no African-Americans in the Senate. Three black Democrats ran in the South: Kendrick Meek of Florida, Michael Thurmond of Georgia, and Alvin Greene of South Carolina. All were defeated.

 

According to U.S. Census figures from 2009, 15.8% of Americans identify themselves as Hispanic or Latino. Mexican-Americans alone make up 10% of the U.S. population. However, the only Hispanic members of the Senate will be Cuban-Americans Bob Menendez of New Jersey and Marco Rubio of Florida.

 

Asian-Americans represent 5.2% of the population of the United States. The only Asian-American senators are from Hawaii. Daniel Inouye is Japanese-American and Daniel Akaka is Chinese-American.  Senator John Ensign of Nevada claims Asian-American heritage because his paternal grandfather, whom he has never met, was half Filipino.

 

More than half of American citizens are women; yet, at most, only 16 women will be seated in the new Senate.

-David Wallechinsky